IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018 (Gary Imm)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas) · Contains: IC 1805 · LBN 654 · LDN 1366 · LDN 1367 · LDN 1368 · LDN 1369 · LDN 1372 · LDN 1373 · Sh2-190

Powered byPixInsight

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

Powered byPixInsight

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

This object, the center of the Heart Nebula (IC 1805), is a fantastic mix of glowing interstellar gas, dark dust clouds, and brilliant stars located 7500 light years away in the Cassiopeia constellation. In the center of the image are the numerous bright white stars of a newborn star cluster known as Melotte 15. The cluster is named for its discoverer, Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961). The stellar winds and radiation emitting from this cluster are sculpting the surrounding dust clouds into out of this world shapes, which is appropriate since it is out of this world.

Normally I try to find one or two interesting aspects of an object to describe here, but in this case, there are so many that I don't know where to start. High on my list is the central twisting, towering dust column. I am not sure if there is a more amazing single object in the sky than this column. I would like to know its overall length in light years but I couldn't find it. I like the right edge of the column, which is brightly lit from the cluster. I also love the detailed base of this column, with its deep shadows and intricate structure. At the very top of the column is an interesting small 4 pronged cloud which appears to have a small star at the end of each prong. On the left side of the image, the numerous triangular shape dust triangles, the top one looking like a dragon's head, are enthralling. Some of them are dark against a light background, while others are light against a dark background. This is an outstanding object which all astrophotographers should image at some point.

The refractors!
Cloudy Nights
ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M
Open Star Clusters
Narrowband imaging

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	2345223
PixInsight job	1ZMT4Q0CBUVUBOR8DBXOP4CT7V17ZGYP
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	02h34m23s.265
RA (top/left)	02h38m53s.936
RA (top/right)	02h31m48s.539
RA (bottom/right)	02h29m54s.539
RA (bottom/left)	02h36m53s.569

Dec (center)	+61°23′52″.30
Dec (top/left)	+61°30′37″.21
Dec (top/right)	+61°51′19″.59
Dec (bottom/right)	+61°16′33″.31
Dec (bottom/left)	+60°56′13″.41

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

IC 1805 Closeup - Melotte 15 - 2018

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information